18 Apr Let’s Pray

When I was in high school, I printed out a bunch of quotes about prayer and stuck them on the inside of my cupboard door. Quotes like:

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” Oswald Chambers

“If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.”  Martin Luther

“The Cinderella of the Church today is the prayer meeting.” Leonard Ravenhill

And about 100 other profound pearls that, in my youthful zeal, my teenage self  just loved to mull over like bubblegum for the brain. I put those up to remind myself about the weightiness of prayer. I also knew that desire and conviction about prayer could be cultivated with encouragement like this, from people whose lives reflected the fire they preached. All of life’s ups and downs, our inner thoughts, our ability to receive revelation from the word – all of the quality of our spiritual walk hinges on our prayer life. Our spiritual practices, including our prayer time, can become like a trellis that holds up the vine producing the vibrant fruit of our spiritual life.

Pray Alone

It’s fascinating that of anything the disciples could have asked their Messiah to teach them to do, they asked Him, ‘Teach us to pray.’ Somehow they surmised that Jesus’ ministry success had a lot to do with His prayer life. The disciples wanted a piece of this! They too wanted that power, that ‘yada’ intimacy, that peace, that other-worldly blessing that stemmed from Jesus’ closet time.

Jesus teaches that the everyday, spiritual practice of prayer is indeed one that is initiated alone with God:

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:6

Sisters, if we want the reward, here is a bible-guaranteed way to receive it from our Father:

1. Go into your room
2. Close the door
3. Pray to your Father

It’s difficult for me to accept that I have (even after praying for years since those zealous high school days!) still not mastered the ability to quiet my mind when praying alone. It races and bounces between various points of intercession, my to-do list, and my other many concerns. Recently, I have so loved reading Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer along with some friends from Follower. Sometimes, I’ve been reminded, prayer can simply be contemplating His beauty. 

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4 NIV

Soaking in the beauty of Jesus, without agenda or prayer list, can be like a long drink of water for my soul. The world wants so much from us. Life can be very transactional, giving and taking according to our physical needs and moment-by-moment desires. But here is an invitation from Someone who needs nothing from us. He only wants to enjoy us and to be enjoyed by us. I believe in spiritual warfare and I believe in intercession. I also believe those types of prayer are supercharged when we are really praying from a place of deep refuge, deep satisfaction in our Beloved.

Not Alone

So actually, even when I’m in my room, with a closed door, I’m not alone. I’m very much together with God. My inability to concentrate in these times I set aside has a lot more to do with my degree of openness to His presence and a lot less with my mental endurance. Of course, it is a choice to allow the physical, mental and (as termed by Watchman Nee) soulish part of me submit to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Christian meditation has never been about emptying oneself but about fixating on His Person. And when we’re with Him, praying, talking, speaking, laughing, declaring, believing, listening, whispering, singing, dancing – there’s not a thought in the world that could be more worthy of my attention.

So I will leave you with a prayer I pray sometimes to ask Him for help in that essential act of fixing my eyes on His:

Help me to see You. When I see You, I will know You.

Help me to know You. When I know You, I will worship You.

Help me to worship You. When I worship You, I will love You.

Help me to love You. When I love You, I will see You…

Kate Walsh

Kate is the current owner and editor of Cup of Faith. She is a blogger who loves Jesus, loves to read, and currently lives in Johannesburg with her husband.